Gracious God,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
deliver me, I pray, from the easy habit of thinking that my spirituality is something between me and you alone.
It is so difficult to accept the idea that my spiritual wholeness cannot be attained outside my life with others.
Help me to open my heart and spirit to what you want to say to me over this Lenten season.
Help me to commit my relationships to you,
that they may become channels of your grace in my life
and that I may become a channel of your grace for others.*
J. Robert Mulholland (1936–2015)
Reflect and Pray over the Lenten season:
- Amidst the challenges of your everyday life, what tendencies toward self-isolation do you notice in your life of faith?
- Where might Jesus be inviting you into a deeper relationship with himself and with others?
- Convert your thoughts into a written prayer….
*Adapted from Bob Mulholland’s prayer in Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 40 This prayer can be found in The Journey Stage 2: Personal Foundations, page 13.
